Land law is perhaps one of the most
important topics a student will learn at undergraduate level; its
principles often form the basis for other areas of law. For
example, the law of assignment (and its rules in Section 136 of the Law
of Property Act 1925) apply to all types of commercial relationships.
Similarly, landlord and tenant law has important implications for
compulsory purchase law (particularly when considering the value of land
affected by a tenancy). It is therefore important that students
studying land law fully understand this topic if they are keen for a
career as a lawyer or in business. To help those students comes
Martin Dixon's Modern Land Law which aims to offer a lively and
thought-provoking account of this important area of law.

Written by an experienced land law academic,
Modern Land Law is split into eleven chapters: an introduction to modern
land law; registered land; unregistered land; co-ownership; successive
interest in land; leases; the law of easements; freehold covenants;
licences and proprietary estoppel; the law of mortgages; and adverse
possession. It also comes with a companion website. This
includes, for each chapter, an essay question, a true/false quiz, a
statute quiz, a case-law quiz, short answers quiz and podcasts.
These are really great features and allow the reader to quickly check
their understanding of the material.

Dixon's approach is clearly set out in the
preface: to explode the myths and mysteries of land law and substitute
instead a picture of that is both detailed and comprehensible.
This is an ambitious aim and is largely achieved. For example, the
explanation of forfeiture of leases distils what is a fairly complicated
area to advise upon into a comprehensible, yet detailed, analysis.
Two minor improvements for future editions: (a) to mention the FCA's Mortgages and Home
Finance: Conduct of Business sourcebook (otherwise known as MCOB) and
(b) to make it clearer that the unfair relationship provisions in
Sections 140A to 140C of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 were only
introduced by the Consumer Credit Act 2006 (as the later Act was
effectively an amending piece of legislation).

If you are looking for an accessible, clear
and comprehensive explanation of modern land law, then you should
seriously consider Martin Dixon's Modern Land Law. It
refreshingly considers the law in a straight-forward and accessible way
while, at the same time, avoiding over-simplifying the law. The
end of chapter summaries, included in most chapters, also provide a very useful
starting point before undertaking detailed research. Dixon
usefully also includes a (relatively) short list of further research
materials for those looking for further analysis of the law. At
just under £33, it is also (like many of Routledge's texts)
competitively priced.